About every two months, Hall of Famer and former Nebraska football coach Tom Osborne said, he could count on getting a letter from former running back Lawrence Phillips. But Osborne said none of those letters — including the last one he received, in November — prepared him what he heard Wednesday.

Phillips, the former Nebraska star running back who was facing murder charges, was found unresponsive in his cell and taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead early Wednesday. Prison officials are investigating it as suicide, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

“His letters were generally fairly upbeat, which is why I was really surprised,’’ Osborne told USA TODAY Sports. “I feel really bad because here’s a guy that had a lot of potential, not just as an athlete, but an intelligent guy.

“You know, he made some mistakes and had some negatives, but he also wasn’t quite the evil person that some people might think he was.’’

In his last letter, Osborne said, Phillips expressed interest in Nebraska’s football season and addressed his own plight — serving a 31-year prison sentence for assault a former girlfriend and driving his car into teenagers and facing the possible death penalty for allegedly murdering his cellmate.

“It seemed like he felt not great, but not too discouraged about his situation,’’ said Osborne, who is retired.

Osborne, head coach on the 1994 and 1995 national championship teams on which Phillips starred, said the letters reflected Phillips’ intelligence.

“He was a good writer,’’ Osborne said. “He was an intelligent guy. He was quite articulate. He’s probably very different than the average person would think.”

During Phillips’ junior season at Nebraska, he assaulted a former girlfriend and Osborne suspended him for six games. The legendary coach then drew criticism when he reinstated Phillips before the national championship game.

“I felt the only thing I could put in a place that would keep him on track was football, because that was probably the only consistent organizing factor in his life,’’ Osborne said, adding that Phillips was required to get counseling as a condition of rejoining the team.

“When he was in the NFL, I told his agent he absolutely needed to stay in counseling,’’ Osborne added. “As I recall, the agent said that would happen. But I’m pretty sure it didn’t. That was a difficult thing.

“There was a side of Lawrence that wasn’t as bad as some people think. Having said that, there’s no question that he made some mistakes in his life and some things that are regrettable. But he was talented, not just athletically, but intellectually, and had a lot of potential.